Cash for pet food 'should go to poor'

An authoritative magazine published by the Jesuits lashed out at the culture of pampered pets yesterday, saying animals had no souls or rights.

The Roman Catholic magazine Civilta Cattolica, whose contents are approved by the Vatican, criticised the spending of "good money" on outlandish pet foods, calling the practice "mad" and "morally condemnatory".

Such money, it said, would be better spent on far nobler causes, such as the starving children of the Third World.

"Animals don't have rights, because these belong to Man," the magazine declared.

By "Man" it said it meant a "person, an intelligent and free being, which is conscious and responsible, and blessed with a spiritual soul."

This did not mean that Man could "maltreat animals or make them suffer. He instead must look after them, since he is not their owner, but the custodian and administrator of creation."

The magazine was severe about the fortunes some people spend on their pets.

"It's all very well for Italians to have cats and dogs in their homes," Civilta Cattolica said. "They are joyous company for everyone, especially the elderly, who often live alone, and for children."

But the article added: "The spending of money on very expensive and expressly made foods to nourish dogs and cats is completely mad and morally condemnatory".

The same applied to people who "dress their pets in designer coats".

Such a harsh position for a religious publication is unlikely to go unnoticed today of all days, the feast of St Francis of Assisi, who befriended the animals and fed the birds.

Fr Mario Canciani, who will bless pets in the name of the saint in Santa Maria in Trastevere church in Rome today, said the article was written in isolation from the real world. "The average theologian is almost always solitary, and closed in his ivory tower."